El Salvador
Impact | Negative
Civicus Rating | Obstructed
The Supreme Court, for its part, had ratified its decision to keep the addenda to Bukele’s patrimonial declarations secret during his term as mayor of Cuscatlán under the protection of Article 240 of the Constitution and in line with the Illicit Enrichment Law. The three IAIP commissioners who voted in favor of keeping this information confidential, including its president, had been appointed by Bukele in the last three months, in a process that civil society considered “irregular” and “not very transparent.” Commissioner Liduvina Escobar, who voted against, considered the decision a “setback in the right of access to public information and the principle of maximum publicity.” The president of the IAIP, Ricardo Gómez Guerrero, explained that the decision will have an impact on any official or former official that is investigated by the Probity Section. After announcing its decision, the Ministry of Finance increased the IAIP budget by $ 250,000, which members of the opposition see as reward for backtracking on the case. In view of this, an opposition deputy and a non-partisan legislator presented three bills seeking to strengthen the independence of the IAIP and increase the breadth of documentation that must be publicly accessible.
